rueful
Americanadjective
-
causing sorrow or pity; pitiable; deplorable.
a rueful plight.
-
feeling, showing, or expressing sorrow, repentance, or regret.
the rueful look on her face.
adjective
-
feeling or expressing sorrow or repentance
a rueful face
-
inspiring sorrow or pity
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rueful
First recorded in 1175–1225, rueful is from the Middle English word reowful; see rue 1, -ful
Explanation
If your elaborate magic trick goes awry, and instead of pulling a rabbit out of an audience member's shoe, you set the shoe on fire, you might give a rueful smile. Rueful means "apologetic" or "remorseful." The adjective rueful sincerely expresses regret, but it manages to do it with a hint of humor. Rueful shows up a lot in descriptions of remorseful grins or apologetic smiles. If you're sorry about something you've done but you can still laugh at yourself a little bit, you feel rueful. The word itself comes from the verb to rue, which means "to regret."
Vocabulary lists containing rueful
List 1
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Tuck Everlasting
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 8–13
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Fortunately for us, we have been on this fiscal consolidation path for a while," Aurangzeb said with a rueful smile.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
He flashes a rueful smile, "we're used to it, but it's pretty awful."
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
So he decides to keep appearing in clubs to tell tales of his relationship woes, lacing the commentary with rueful remarks that are vaguely comic, though nothing he says is actually funny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
It’s one of many smart, rueful asides in what amounts to a nonjudgmental cinematic essay on the increasingly atomized nature of contemporary living.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
“My first day as apprentice,” he said, rueful.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
